Tandem isomerisation–carbonylation catalysis: highly active palladium(ii) catalysts for the selective methoxycarbonylation of internal alkenes to linear esters

Fast, selective conversion of internal olefins to linear esters is catalysed by Pd(II) complexes of chelating bis(phospha-adamantyl)diphosphines and the catalysis is acutely sensitive to the ligand backbone and even to the diastereomer used; the results are compared with those for the PBut2 analogue.